May 2020

We continued with lockdown, but things started loosening up the last week of the month. They have developed phases and Placer County went from Phase 1 to Phase 2. The gym will not reopen until Phase 3 but Rog’s karate group started practices back up. The gym is locked but they are using the ARD lawn and maintaining social distancing. Aikido is a contact martial arts so they will be waiting quite a bit longer. Unfortunately, the anticipated Shotokan Special Training was cancelled. Rog has been training for 2 years to test at this event and has now given up on advancing to third degree black belt. His goal was to get it before he turned 70. That goal has been shattered for him and he plans to focus on other things.

We have learned to cope with most of the other inconveniences the lockdown brings; changing our Costco run so we don’t have to wait in long lines, continuing pickups at WalMart, wearing masks when we are out and maintaining social distancing. The grandkids still come by on Friday mornings and we actually gave hugs last Friday! My hair continues to grow (and Ryan has shaved his head) and we take a walk every morning in the local park. The social calendar is weak, but we did see the Zauchas who came over to buy our bikes for Russ and Jamilla. They were able to chat with Michelle and the grandkids as well. On the last weekend of May, we actually went up to Auburn and had dinner at the Nordstrom’s. So we are slowly getting back to normal.

Mother’s Day was as special as we could make it. Ryan came by with flowers and sweets. The Blooms came over with a very special gift and we chatted on our new patio for a bit. Rog made breakfast and dinner for me and I had a totally relaxing day.

The weather has been up and down; from hot streaks over 100 to downpours. We worked between both, finishing up the back patio. I made roof screens out of sunshade and Rog put grommets in them and installed them. Then I made side screens and we attached them to roller shades. Next month will be detail work; trim, drip system, and, hopefully, the aquaponics garden.

Meanwhile, I have totally given up on the “kata circle”. I didn’t put kurapia in the circle so that Rog could work out on it without worrying about bees. I planted herniaria there and have been nursing it along for 5 years and it still covers less than 50% of the area. When I trimmed the backyard, I threw kurapia on the circle and plan to keep it trimmed so that there are no flowers for the bees. I also gave a bucket of kurapia trimmings to a neighbor and another bucket to the Nordstroms. The pattern of one day warm, one day wet, has given everything a huge spurt in growth so there has been a lot of trimming and thinning going on.